Looking for something to do in Spartanburg that involves coming into contact with no other people? How about an Upstate, SC bear hunt? Since almost everything is closed because of the novel coronavirus pandemic, it makes it tough for parents to not only keep their kids entertained but save their own sanity. We love driving tours over here at Kidding Around (**ahem** Christmas lights…) so we asked our readers if they knew of neighborhoods participating in the viral Bear Hunt window challenge, where people put teddy bears in their windows for kids to find and point out.
And they answered. Because our readers are awesome.
Looking for more things to do? We have a bunch of ideas assembled for you in this list of Things to Do in the Upstate During Social Distancing.
The bear hunt challenge is based on the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. Your kids probably know the accompanying song (here it is on YouTube) which would be fun to play in the car if it doesn’t drive you crazy. Going on a bear hunt is also a fun game when you’ve used up all your indoor ideas or just need to get out of the house without being around other people.
Also, note that some families have put other stuffed animals in their windows for lack of bears (could be my kids) or just a greater sense of creativity so you can count those homes in your bear hunt, too!
We’ve put together three driving tours, so far, of routes you can take for bear hunts that our readers have noticed bears on. You should be able to load these to your phone’s GPS. These are not exact addresses but neighborhoods/streets where you can search around for bears in windows and we’ll add in more places as we find them (some aren’t on the driving routes currently but are listed on the map). Please be considerate of neighborhood and their residents and drive carefully.
Spartanburg Area Neighborhoods to Find Bears
These are the neighborhoods and general areas listed in our driving tours but if we are missing places with bears – or got the neighborhoods/street wrong, please message us or comment on this post.
North Spartanburg Route
Chestnut Lake
Wellington Estates
Hanging Rock
Glen Lake
Sterling Estates
Cobbs Creek
Red Fox
Woodfin Ridge
Central Spartanburg Route
Hawk Creek
Hawk Creek Meadow
Thornhill
Dorman Meadows
Lucerne Drive
Converse Heights
Tyger River Route
Cartwright Farms
Carlton Creek
Rainwater
River Falls
Bridle Path
Not on a Route Yet
Shiloh Farms in Lyman
Sweetgrass in Chesnee
A reader suggested that for every bear you find, you can donate a quarter or some amount of money to a food bank (send it online) to help your kids learn about helping others while having fun.
We’re Going on A Bear Hunt Video
Here’s the animated video of the book:
Have you seen any bears on a bear hunt around the Upstate? Tell us where in the comments!